It’s been a while since I first wondered if Google would develop an Operating System (OS), and it seems I guessed it right for once! They actually were up to something… “something” that will surely change the market within a few years. Google officially announced their latest super project: Chrome-OS . I’m really looking forward to seeing it!
What I’m really happy about is the approach that will be used to shape this product: it’s a product conceived from users and for users. What’s new then? It will be open source (as Linux is) but Google will lead and coordinate development cycles, releases and most importantly, its features. I’m a huge fan of Linux, but I think that lack of leadership in the Linux community has caused many issues. First of all, too many different distros (or versions) have spawned, but what I really think it’s the main problem with Linux is that there’s too much choice with programs that causes confusion: if you think of a doc or xls file, you almost probably take for granted that Word or Excel will be executed when you open it. On Linux that’s often not the case – at least not the first time – because you are prompted with a list of several programs and you have to choose which one to use. I find this annoying and confusing, especially for non techies.
Google, on the other side, got us used to simple things, but still are able to propose many advanced features that can be used even by less experienced users. I would expect their OS to follow the general guidelines used so far: think of gmail, google docs, the calendar… very easy to use, but stuffed with advanced options for any level of expertise, extremely flexible and customisable. Hopefully Chrome will be like this?
I don’t really know what to expect on the Look & Feel side, but if I had to guess, I’m confident they will take bits and pieces of every OS around (Vista, Leopard and Gnome as major influences), blend them all together and add some simple but good looking user interface as they usually do.
What about the consequences? I immediately think of the 3 major OS in use (Vista, Leopard and Linux), their producers and their users. How will they react?
I reckon that Microsoft more than everybody else will have to come up with something really good and really quickly or they might lose territory on a daily base. Virtually every office runs just windows powered machines: it is hard to replace… but what with licence costs? Another advantage Microsoft guys have is that the gaming industry spins around them and die hard gamers (there are more of us than you may think! :p) will stick to Windows until there are other platforms that will support games as well as it does. They are a wealthy company, but this will be a thorn in their side… a big one.
I don’t really think Apple will be affected that much instead, as their users are too happy and proud. They have formed something that looks more like a cult than a simple set of users:I can’t see them renouncing to well designed computers or to the elegant OS that never causes grief.
Linux users, instead, might be quickly converted: hopefully, with Google leading this project, many Linux developers and enthusiasts could embrace this new project at an early stage and could potentially become the first set of users for this new OS. Linux users love to dare by nature, and this looks like a good challenge.
Of course I might be wrong with my preditcions, but this is just what I see could happen. I’ll close this post with a question that has just come to my mind: how long before the server counterpart for Chrome-OS will be announced? Place your bets!
The only problem with free OS’s to me, is that you cannot just download and install any program you find on the net. At least with windows, you know most programs are going to work, and you can trawl the web to find these programs and install them easily enough.